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Diverse

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While You Were Reading by Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus

July 1, 2019

While You Were Reading is a quirky, lighthearted novel just perfect for a weekend read. A delightful contemporary romance about finding your true self, and real friends that warmed my heart, and had me staying up late till the last page.

Full of bookish references, and plenty of Melbourne haunts, there’s lots to love including very relatable bookworm Bea, who is trying to rebuild her life after moving to Melbourne for a fresh start. Picking up a second hand book at a local bookstore, she falls in love with the handwritten annotations in the margins, and begins a quest to hunt down the author. Finding herself in a job she hates, lacking in friends, she turns to the local Barista Dino for motivation and moral support, who supplies her apt handwritten bookish quotes on her daily coffee cups.

I absolutely enjoyed The Book Ninja, and I wasn’t sure that While You Were Reading would be able to live up to the first book by Ali Berg and Michelle Baus, but I’m very pleased to be wrong. I’ve added them both to my must-read author list, and will be keeping a keen eye out for their next novel.

* This eBook ARC was provided by Simon & Schuster (Australia) through NetGalley for an honest review.

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To Be Perfectly Honest by Jess Vallance

June 26, 2019

After uncovering a family secret, Grace Dart has had enough with lying and has dedicated the next fifty days of her college life to telling nothing but the truth, no matter how hard, or insulting, or at times, hilarious it might be.

I hadn’t read the first in the series, but I didn’t actually feel it impacted negatively on my reading experience, I didn’t feel like I’d missed out on anything by not having done so. I did find it hard to like Grace at first, she was selfish, rude, self absorbed, and at times the things she said to people could have caused a lot of harm, and she seemed almost entirely oblivious to it for the first half of the book.

But as the story was told, we start to see Grace realising, if a little belatedly, the impact her ‘truths’ were having on the people around her, and seeing her trying to fix and make things right with the people she’s hurt along the way was heart warming.

All and all, a fun and delightful read.

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The Other Half of Augusta Hope by Joanna Glen

June 14, 2019

The Other Half of Augusta Hope is written about two twins, Julia and Augusta, who couldn’t be any more different. While Julia is pretty, calm and happy with her life, while Augusta is strange, inquisitive and eager to escape their world. Augusta feels at odds with her family, and struggles with acceptance, all the while forming a close bond with Burundi. Despite their differences, the bond forged between them is strong, they do everything together and share everything. That is, until a family holiday in Spain, where a mysterious event sees Julia becoming withdrawn, and leaving Augusta guessing about what unfolded that day on the beach.

The story is told from two narratives, Augusta, and Parfait who is trying to escape the violence and blood shed in Burundi with his family, each chapter bringing the pair closer together, till their paths cross. Briefly at first, but when they do finally collide, and Augusta finally learns the consequences of that fated day in Spain.

I really enjoyed The Other Half of Augusta Hope, it had me in tears, and took me on an emotional roller coaster that I was all too happy to go on. I found myself relating all too well with Augusta and her nomadic quirks, and the story wrapped up beautifully in the end.

* This eBook ARC was provided by HarperCollins Publishers Australia through NetGalley for an honest review.

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Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron #1) by Ashley Poston

April 17, 2018

Portrayed as a sci-fi retelling of Anastasia, this novel takes you on a swash-buckling adventure with Ana and the outlaw crew of the Dossier, as they try to find a way to fix her failing robot, D09, commonly called Di. Secrets are gradually unraveled and the stakes are risen, as An learns more about her past, and her best friend, Di.

For a book that has gone to print, there were a surprising number of typos throughout the book, and even some wrongly printed names that made a confusing world all the more difficult to navigate. The world building is one of the aspects that definitely fell short in this novel with so many things referenced with little to no explanation or context as to what they meant. I found myself having to re-read several passages and even chapters just trying to get an understanding of what is going down.

The story is told from multiple points of view, and at times the frequent shifts between them really seemed unnecessary, and I feel that the story could have benefited by dropping some of them. It was very jarring and it made it difficult to relate and connect with many of the characters.

The pacing slow at a number of points, but the ending certainly picked up the pace, but I found that most of the plot twists were predictable with little in the way of surprises throughout. Things progressed exactly how I thought they would, and that made it difficult for me to continue to the end.

What I did love though was the characters and the representation, the building relationship between Jax and Robb was adorable and fun to see. And I while I did love Di and Ana individually, I wasn’t sold on the whole insta-love and I would have loved to have seen a bit more of a build there, and got a few more glimpses about what makes their relationship what it is.

For me, this was a 3 out of 5 stars. Maybe 3.5.

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Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

March 19, 2018

Starfish tells a story about a young half Japanese woman Kiko, and her emotional journey of self discovery and strength as she struggles to cope with being rejected from her dream art school, Prism. With her best friend, Emery, leaving town, Kiko loses her crutch and starts to make the first steps into the world on her own, and her less than understanding, and self absorbed mother doesn’t make it any easier for her. Gradually as the story is told, Kiko learns about the true meaning of beauty, friendship, and family and finds a strength in her she didn’t realise she had, but was there all along.

“I feel weird just standing there listening. Do other people do that? Move from circle to circle, socialising with everyone like they all know each other? It seems invasive. I don’t know the rules.”

This novel is told from Kiko’s point of view, which I absolutely loved. So much of what she said resonated so strongly with me, particularly when she describes and draws about her experience with social anxiety. The anxiety was represented beautifully, and there were so many points in the book where I felt it was echoing exactly the sorts of things I’ve felt. In my head, I was mentally saying. “This is me. This is me. I’ve been there,” so many times, which made the whole story all the more poignant and personal.

I love the little descriptions of her sketches at the ends of the chapters an seeing how they evolved as Kiko grows as a person and learns about how to be strong and deal with her hideous mother which has had such a strangling and suffocating effect on her, and her siblings.

I adored that as the story progressed, she was self aware enough to realise that she needed to do a bit of healing, on her own. That Jamie can’t ‘save’ her, and before she can let people into her life, and love them, she needs to learn to accept and love herself,

This book is just beautiful and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

* This ebook ARC was provided by Black & White Publishing through NetGalley for an honest review.

 

5 / 5 stars

 

 

Akemi Dawn Bowman is the author of Starfish (Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster) and Summer Bird Blue (Fall 2018). She’s a proud Ravenclaw and Star Wars enthusiast, who served in the US Navy for five years and has a BA in social sciences from UNLV. Originally from Las Vegas, she currently lives in England with her husband, two children, and their Pekingese mix.

She is represented by Penny Moore of Empire Literary.

Website – Instagram – Goodreads – Twitter

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I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman

March 6, 2018

I Have Lost My Way follows the lives of three individuals as they collide into each other in a very literal way when Freya falls from a bridge, only to land on Nathaniel, with Harun there to witness. Freya is an up and coming singer, who has lost her voice. Nathaniel is a small town boy who has just arrived in New York with little to his name, and Harun is a homosexual Muslim son, destined to leave home and find a wife and recently lost the love of his life, James.

The story follows their lives over the next twenty four hours as they find themselves connected in more ways than they imagine, each dealing with loss, and grief and struggling to cope. These three beautifully written and diverse characters band together, working to help each other overcome their obstacles and in doing so, realizing that they are no longer alone.

I have not read anything by Gayle Forman before, so I wasn’t at all sure what to expect in I Have Lost My Way, and was more than pleasantly surprised to find myself immediately hooked from the first few pages. It was a light and easy read, and it wasn’t long before I felt invested in the characters, eager to see how things turn out. It was an emotional read and I loved the themes of empathy and loss, and seeing how important sometimes even the little things can be to someone.

* This ebook ARC was provided by Simon & Schuster through NetGallery for an honest review.

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Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

February 16, 2018

In the third and (probably?) final installment in the life and loves of Lara Jean, she’s in her senior year, and all excited and ready to head off to college with Peter. She’s also planning (or rather taking over) her father’s wedding to Ms Rothchild, and on a quest to bake the perfect cookie!

But things don’t go according to plan, and Lara Jean is left scrambling as she tries to cope and make some difficult decisions.

I found the pace a little slower than the previous two books, and things didn’t really liven up till just past the half way point in the book. Lara Jean was less likable, and especially in the first half of the book, sometimes felt like reaching through the book and throttling her.

But like with the previous books, Lara Jean has some growing to do as a person, and it was great to see how the character developed throughout the course of the book.

What I loved:- Food, and cookies, and Korean face masks. A light, and cozy read, perfect for my Valentines read.

What I didn’t love:- Little in the way of antics in the retirement village.

I enjoyed all three books in the series for what they are, a light and easy read, that was the perfect break from some of the heavier, and more emotionally twisted novels. But I’m happy now to put them aside, and get into something else.

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P.S. I Still Like You by Jenny Han

February 11, 2018

Well, that didn’t last long did it? I somehow devoured the second installment in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before even quicker than the first one, finishing it up just before my clock hit 2am and I was in dire need of some sleep.

So, it’s not surprising that I found P.S. I Still Love You as light and easy to read as the first. It was heart warming, it was warm and fuzzy, and it was completely adorable and utterly cute.

All the foodie goodness that I loved in the first book was just as sweet in this one, with the added touch of the Stormy antics, and all the goings on in the retirement village where Lara Jean is now working. I enjoyed the insight that Stormy gave to Lara Jean’s problems with the video, and the ongoing and perhaps unwanted advise into her love life, including a completely awkward and very relevant chat on safe sex.

I did think the story was a little bit slower paced than the first one, with most of the storyline seeming to unfold in the second half of the book, but the adorable supporting characters, especially Kitty and Stormy, really seem to carry it all the same.

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To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

February 9, 2018

This was a surprisingly enjoyable read, easy, relatable and likable characters and a story that warmed my heart. I needed a light and fun read, and this filled that need perfectly. I found myself drawn in to Lara Jeans world and her predicament right from page one and unable to put the book down, read it in about a day, which would be the fastest read I’ve done for quite a while!

I loved that Lara Jean is half-Korean, and those little details about her father trying his hardest to cook Korean food, and other aspects of their culture just really added to the story. I also enjoyed that the story revolved around the three sisters, and how they cope with their mother’s death, and then the Margot’s departure off to school. It made me more than a little wistful for a sister or two of my own.

The progression of developing feelings towards the male characters in the story was right on point, and had me experiencing all the feels right up to the last page. I was going to read something else next, but find that I have no choice but to read the next in the series. And probably the next after that!